is designed to satisfy the concern that most casual gamers usually run into with traditional Simulation and Strategy titles. After you've been steeped in the likes of Bejeweled
, games like SimCity
are too much, too often, too quickly. Younger players also have the occasional challenge ramping up on Sim games, not because there is too much information (the success of Pokemon
demonstrates that kids are more than capable of retaining and recalling vast amounts of data), but because there are more complex strategies behind design and mission objectives. More pieces have to come together successfully in games like Civilization
to achieve a successful outcome than in most games. City Builder
aims to simplify this part of the genre, and does so brilliantly. The interface is dumbed-down, and we don't mean that in a harsh way. People have been trying to adapt Sim games to consoles with varying degrees of success for a long time. City Builder
is the best natural fit for the genre on a console that we've ever seen. It retains the flavor of the overall genre, but simplifies things in a way that matches the intuitive controls and gaming philosophy of the Wii, in this case.
Keeping with the idea of attracting casual gamers to a genre that doesn't traditionally appeal to them, City Builder keeps its interface uncluttered. As you build the cityscapes in each level, the decisions you'll make are defined by selecting one of several items along a horizontal bar. If you don't find the exact item you need, pressing the (A) button creates a slot-machine effect that scrambles the items, so you can hopefully select the right one for the task at hand. Each city is built in layers, so you are never shown more than the one layer you can build in at that exact moment. The combined effects of your efforts are revealed at the end of each segment, which is fun because each person will end up with a slightly different city, depending on the decisions made within each layer. The design palette leans toward big, bright, and bouncy. It's familiar territory for young gamers especially, many of whom won't even recognize City Builder as being derivative material; the kids of the kids that used to play SimCity will find City Builder fits their Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetic perfectly.